Furniture caster with footplate



De'c. 24, 1935. H. HEBBINGHAUS 2,025,448

FURNITURE CASTER WITH FOOTPLATE l l Filed Jan. 27, 1935 Patented pee.24, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application January 27, 1933,Serial No. 653,841 In Germany February 1, 1932 1 Claim.

The furniture casters hitherto on the market are open to the objectionthat they damage the floor more or less and leave unsightly indentationstherein. The object of this invention is 5 to overcome this objectionand to provide the caster with a foot plate which can be easily shiftedup and down so that it normally relieves the roller and carries theweight of the piece of furniture, whereas, when the foot plates arerendered inoperative, the rollers carry the weight of the piece offurniture, so that it can be easily and freely shifted. To enable theroller to be easily rendered operative and inoperative it is acted uponby a spring which presses the roller in downward direction and can berendered operative and inoperative by shifting vertically, the springbeing of such strength that it is com-- pressed by the weight of thepiece of furniture so that normally the foot plate and roller bearweight of the piece of furniture is carried by the foot plate, whereasfor locking the roller in operative position after it has beendownwardly pressed by the spring when the piece of furniture is lifted,a snap locking device is provided, the engaging spring of which is ofsuch strength that it cannot itself disengage the locking means but onlyif assisted by exerting additional pressure on the piece of furniture.

The advantage derived from the caster according to the invention is thatthe piece of furniture normally rests on rm foot plates without it beingnecessary to rst additionally load the piece of furniture. Moreover theroller can be easily and simply rendered inoperative by the deviceaccording to the invention, as it is only necessary to slightly reducethe bearing weight of the piece of furniture for example by lifting onecorner thereof whereupon the roller at the lifted corner immediatelysprings into operative position. In this manner it is possible to bringall the rollers successively into operative position in which they areheld by their snap locking device. The rollers can just as easily berendered inoperative. It is only necessary to increase the load restingon the resiliently supported rollers by successively exerting pressureon the piece of furniture above the points at which the rollers aremounted; the locking device then immediately operates and the rollersare again pressed back into their inoperative raised position.

It is possible for a single person to shift without assistancerelatively heavy pieces of furniture such as tables, cupboards, pianosand the simultaneously on the floor, but almost the entire like.However, the casters can be immediately rendered inoperative after theshifting of the piece of furniture. The casters hitherto generally usedare open to the objection that the rollers always carry the entireweight and consequently gradually press into the floor or destroy thecarpet or oor covering. This objection is overcome by the casteraccording to the invenion.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example intheaccompanying drawing in whichz- Fig. l shows a modified form ofconstruction in vertical section on line II-II of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a section on line I-I of Fig. 1.

A sleeve 22 is fixed in a bell 2l and is-rotatable in a sleeve 23connected to a disc 24 having a toothed rim 25 which is rotatable on theedge 26 of the bell 2l. The sleeve 23 and ytoothed rim 25 serve forfixing the bell in the leg of the piece of 20 furniture.

An inverted U-shaped bearing 2l is rigidly connected to the inner sideof the bell 2l. Between the Walls of this bearing a fork 28 is slidableand carried by a pin 29 guided in the sleeve 22 which allows the up anddown movement of the fork 28. A spring 3i! is wound around the pin 29between the fork 23 and the bearing 21.

A steel sleeve 3i is carried by thefork 28 and carries a pressure spring32 at each end of which a steel ball 33 is mounted, A roller 34 isrotatably mounted on the sleeve 3l.

Opposite each of the balls 33 a groove 35 is provided in the bearing 2lwhich grooves become shallower towards their upper ends terminating at3B and forming a cavity 31 at their lower ends.

The bell is closed at the bottom by a disc 38 having an aperture 39 forthe passage of the roller 34. The bell can rotate freely when the sleeve23 is fixed on the leg of the piece of furniture by its toothed rim 25.

When this device is not loaded the spring 30 presses the fork 28downwards so that the roller 34 projects from the bell 2l and the balls33 are pressed by the spring 32 into the cavities 31 so that the roller34 is locked in operative position.

In this position the piece of furniture can be shifted on the rollers.The pressure exerted by the spring 32 is so strong that it can only beovercome and the balls 33 leave the cavities 31 when the weight of thepiece of furniture is increased by pressing thereon. If pressure isexerted on the piece of furniture the balls 32 pass out of the cavities31, the fork yields upwards,

the iloor. the roller 34 passing infn the bell, so that the pieceloffurniture rests firmly on the bell 2i.

I claixm- A furniture caster, comprising in combination a bell-shapedfoot, a vertical sleeve extending from the upper side of said foot, aninverted U-shaped bearing fixed in said foot and having a cavityadjacent thlower end of each ofits arms, a pin vertically slidable insaid sleeve, a fork on the lower end of said pin, a hollow axlejournalled in said fork, a running' roller mounted on said axle, aspring surrounding said pin between said bearing' and said fork, saidspring adapted to allow said fork to yield upwardly in said bearing `A9,096,448 co thespring I0 andthebellll rests on under the weight of thepiece of furniture so that the same is supported bysaidfootand to presssaid fork downwardly to cause said roller to project from the undersideof said foot when the piece of furniture is lifted, two balls, one ateach 5 end of said hollow axle, and a spring between said balls adaptedto press said balls in outward direction to cause the same to engage inthe cavities in said fork when the piece of furniture is lifted, to locksaid fork in lowered position so that the piece of furniture issupported by said roller and to yield when pressure is exerted on thepiece of furniture to disengage said balls from 52.10% cavities to allowsaid roller to recede into said f f HELMUT HEBBINGHAUS.

